Imagine if health bloggers started warning about "chemicals" in energy drinks (surely you've heard something like this), and touting "chemical-free" alternatives.

This enters the wider lexicon. Serious journalists discuss the controversy of energy drinks that are "full of chemicals".

No drink manufacturers or even chemists raise a stink or mock anyone for butchering the word. Within ten years they all use the word this way themselves.

This is what happened to the word "algorithm".